Of all the social media channels we use as online trainers, Twitter seems to be the least understood from a marketing standpoint. Things happen fast on Twitter, which means a Tweet you send out could get lost in the mix very quickly, and might not be viewed as much as one of your Instagram posts, for example. How do we change this? There are millions of people using Twitter every minute of every day! How do we maximize the potential audience of our Tweets?

Let’s think about something. Why do people use Twitter? Mainly as source of information or entertainment? Personally, if I want to know about something that is going on in the world, I immediately head to Twitter for up-to-date news, or to see what others are saying about it. The main take-away from this is: people are on Twitter seeking information, so why not provide this to them?

Become the Go-To Source

By providing useful information, engaging photos or videos, or even just little thoughts that pop into your head as you go throughout your day, people will begin to check in on your twitter feed on a regular basis. This is what we want! Once you develop a trust with these followers, the next time they see you Tweet about your online training, they might actually investigate and turn into a paying client. Nowadays there are so many online trainers to choose from, you need to do something to stand out and help people relate to you.

Here are 3 Ways To Use Twitter to Help Build Your Online Training Business

1. Do some research on the best times to tweet for your desired demographic and schedule tweets for these times.

This could take some trial and error initially, but will pay off big time once you figure it out. There are many apps and programs out there that allow you to pre-schedule your tweets (some free and some are paid). Schedule a weeks worth of Tweets at a time for different times during the day and then at the end of the week, check the interaction of these Tweets. Do this for a few weeks and you will be able to use this data to get at least an idea of the best times to Tweet, so they will not go un-noticed. One tip is to not get discouraged! Just keep on tweeting and providing quality content; consistency is key, because you never know who is watching.

2. Use photos and video with links back to your website

The key to selling on Twitter is to not sound like a salesperson all the time. This comes across as desperate and could turn a lot of your followers off. Using helpful content like videos or images with fitness tips, healthy recipes, or infographics with links back to your website or blog seem to work best. Provide someone with helpful information and then just make sure when they click the link to head to your website for more information, they can easily stumble across information about your online training programs (or be asked to join your email list!). This could be via a pop-up as they enter the page, a sign-up form in the sidebar, or even an opt-in form right at the bottom of the blog post you just had them read. Make it simple, because if the right information is hidden on your website or to difficult to understand, people will hit the ‘X’ in the top right corner very quickly, and you may lose them forever!

3. Follow and connect with others that have an interest in fitness, weight loss, health, etc.

Don’t wait for people to just follow you; go out and find potential followers (a.k.a. potential paying customers!). Do some quick searches for popular hashtags in your field (#fitness, #myweightlossjourney, #fitfam #weightloss, etc.) as this will bring you across a whole bunch of people tweeting about things directly related to what you do. Whether these are other fitness professionals or people on fitness journeys, the key is to interact with these people by following them, re-tweeting their tweets, or replying to certain tweets (or a combination of all of the above). This is how you get noticed on other people’s feeds and is a great way to gain followers and popularity on Twitter. And don’t forget to use those same hashtags that your audience is using, so that they will be able to find you and your tweets!

Side note: This can be quite time consuming while you are initially getting the hang of it, but if you don’t have the time in your schedule, it is always a possibility to hire someone or outsource your social media management. This might be a little bit of money up front, but could pay off greatly in more business coming through your Trainerize app.

I hope this information is helpful in your journey to building your online training empire.

Michelle is the resident fitness expert for Trainerize. She has 8 years’ experience in the fitness industry training clients through her own business including: professional and elite level athletes, celebrities, online clients, and average people with fitness and fat loss goals, to name a few. She holds a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology, is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA) and a certified level 1 Nutrition Coach. Michelle wakes up happy every day because she is able to do what she loves for a living.
View all Articles by Michelle Roots